Youthprise is pleased to announce that we have been chosen as one of 6 national Civic Spring Project grantees!

Members of the Civic Spring Project are working creatively over the summer to engage young people in building civic knowledge while strengthening their community’s civic infrastructure during a significant moment in our country’s history.

MN Young Champions is a partnership between Youthprise and Bridgemakers a newly-formed, youth-led grassroots organization based here in Twin Cities.

This work is inspired by and in response to Minnesota’s national attention as an epicenter for the fight for racial equity in response to police brutality perpetrated against the black community and the murder of George Floyd. Minnesota’s young people are also at the center of a youth-led struggle for equity in pandemic support.

Over the past two months, high school youth in partnership with adults have launched a campaign to overturn a state law that prevents them from accessing unemployment benefits or pandemic unemployment assistance. This is impacting an estimated 25,000+ otherwise eligible youth.

(Learn more via KARE11, The Star Tribune, WCCO, the New York Times, or the Don’t Forget Us Campaign.)

These issues have sparked significant engagement and passion among youth, especially youth from low-income families and communities of color, and with the upcoming election, this heightened awareness and desire to engage in civic action offers an unparalleled opportunity to substantially grow the civic knowledge and capacities of Minnesota young people.

To that end, Youthprise will partner with Bridgemakers (a newly-formed, youth-led grassroots organization based here in Twin Cities) to implement a two-pronged project titled MN Young Champions that seeks to:

1. To partner with youth advisory groups statewide in developing and promoting a youth policy agenda to the current pool of candidates currently running for national, state, and local office
2. To champion and advocate for Minnesota’s high school students to:
   1. Receive unemployment benefits and pandemic unemployment assistance in 2020
   2. Become eligible to receive state unemployment insurance in the future.
3. To utilize a youth-led structure where young people will be engaged at every level, serving as project directors as well as ambassadors and volunteers, with adults serving as mentors.

To support this and other programs, please donate to Youthprise.

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